2016 is expected to mark a new era for content marketing, and integrated marketers who want to stay ahead of the competition will need to be ready. According to Jayson DeMers, CEO of AudienceBloom and a regular contributor to Mashable, Forbes, Search Engine Journal, and VentureBeat, the following seven important content marketing trends will dominate 2016:
- Aggregated content will put content marketing in the hands of users. In 2016, complex software will be able to take blips of information from millions of social profiles and piece them together to form a coherent story, potentially threatening content marketer’s reach in the area of news coverage.
- Journalistic algorithms will begin to replace freelancers. Today, algorithms are capable of producing articles about simple topics; soon, they’ll be capable of much more sophisticated tasks, lessening the need for freelancers and part-time writers.
- Google’s Knowledge Graph and Instant Answers will necessitate a shift toward long-form content. The more sophisticated form of answer provision is removing the need to click any websites in the search results, effectively reducing traffic to web pages that provide quick answers.
- Social media will offer new publishing options like Facebook’s “Instant Articles,” which gives certain media partners better-looking and faster-loading mobile versions of their stories. Other social and digital mediums are following suit.
- Demand for more visual content will escalate. As wireless connections and Internet speeds continue to increase, users are becoming increasingly impatient for faster and more instant forms of communication. To meet this higher demand for visual content, check out our previous post regarding how to save money on video production.
- Interactive content will emerge. With custom newsfeeds and tailored search results, users are already starting to grow accustomed to individualized results in the digital world. In 2016, users will begin to demand content that shifts or responds to user prompts.
- Competition will skyrocket. Algorithms, new formats, and new technologies are making it easier and cheaper for businesses to get involved in content marketing. In 2016, more than ever before, quality of content will matter over quantity, making it a good time to enlist your content commandos to win the battle for relevance.
Some of these trends, like Google’s Knowledge Graph and Instant Answers, threaten the groundwork of content marketing in general, while others, like algorithmically generated content, can be adapted to and leveraged. Integrated marketers are advised to make changes where you can. Learn more about how PIP Metro Indy can help you stand out from the competition with our extensive products and services here.
